I’m sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve because my apartment complex has flooded and I can’t get my car out to go anywhere.  I have a major issue with the complex I live in (and have lived in for about 10 years) and that is that there’s only 1, get that, ONE, entrance/exit in and out of this place (the only other one they had blocked off by dumpsters several years ago) and I think it’s shitty of them to continue allowing the residents to live this way. Buuuuuuut, it’s government housing (yeah, I’m not afraid to admit it) and so it’s OK to treat people like poor dirt.

Basically, every time it rains this stupid place floods. Seriously. And not just when it rains a lot. When it rains period. But it started raining early yesterday and did not stop until about 2 hours ago.

How about a visual?

Everywhere you see water there’s supposed to be a road or a sidewalk, and keep in mind this was taken earlier in the day long before it stopped raining.

Just like that one.

Some people drive through it, but  I refuse to. #1, it’s unsafe to drive through water like that! #2, the car I had before the one I have now DIED not long after I drove it through this flooded complex in the past.  Really though, does it take a genius to realize that driving through a lot of high water can screw up your vehicle? Especially if you’re in one lower to the ground than a truck might be. I’m still paying my damn car off. I’d like it to LAST a few years after I finally do!

On a different note get this, while we had floods in the center of the state, at the same time there was winter weather advisories in the northern parts of the state and TORNADO WARNINGS in the south! That’s Arkansas weather for you. In The Natural State you get a bit of everything.

So, that’s really all I have to say, other than Merry Christmas to everyone. :-)

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I got back from my 5-day trip in Chicago a little after 5:00a.m. this morning. I want to start from the beginning, but about all of the horrible Greyhound experiences, I will be brief as I don’t want to sour such a wonderful experience with negativity.

The Brief Bitch: Everything about Greyhound is torturous and I would never, under any circumstances, recommend anyone ride one, ever.

Now that that’s been said, let me start with the city itself. I’ve never been in a big city like Chicago. I’ve never been on a subway, or ‘train’ what have you, and have only seen them on TV and in movies. Brian (who I went to Chicago to see and I will get to that soon) showed me so many things and took me to so many places that I can’t remember everything right off (this might be a long post, but I’m due for a good one anyway!). Well, I absolutely loved riding on the train! Call me silly, but I would give up the use of my car everyday in exchange for hopping on trains that stop and go at stops so fast you have to stay on your toes lest you miss them. I loved watching all different kinds of people go to and from, this way and that, going about their daily lives, iPod buds dangling from their ears, backpacks tossed over their shoulders. Few people ever say much to anyone next to them, yet somehow that quiet mystery in passing between them fascinates me.

I stood beneath so many towering skyscrapers and I welcomed the vertigo with open arms. The Sears Tower (I refuse to call it the Willis Tower – sounds funny even for someone not from Chicago) was like standing under a Titan. Amazing.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

I’m having a difficult time choosing which photos to put up! I only took about 200, give or take, and then there are the ones Brian took, which turned out better than mine did. My camera sucks!

We also went to “The Lake”, which I like to call The Ocean because I’ve never seen a lake so enormous that you can’t see land on the other side. but it was frigid and we could only stay long enough to get a few shots.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

Brian took me to one of his inspirational places and I really loved it there. We both agree that it could do without the graffiti, but the area in general is peaceful.

(Photo by Brian Salata)

Brian took me to the Adler Planetarium where we saw a show called Night Sky Live. It was really nice, as we both are heavily obsessed with The Universe.

I  love this photo of Brian. :-)  It’s so fitting!

But this one, even more fitting! :-D

I look like shit in my newspaper ad, but oh well.

We had a great time.

I also got to meet a longtime friend of mine, Kris aka Sex, Death & Money, who I’ve known online since the role-playing days of MSN. We’ve known each other for about six years.  Me, Brian, Kris and her comical boyfriend (I forgot his name! What is it, Kris?) met up at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria so I could eat my first pizza. OK, my first Chicago pizza, so technically my first pizza. We hung out for about 2 hours and laughed a lot about how Southern I really am (y’all hush! It ain’t that bad!) and made fun of Twilight and talked about just about everything. It was fun.

Love ya, Kris!

But Chicago was more than a vacation. I went for one reason and that was to meet Brian. And Brian was the best part of my trip. It was a long-awaited meeting, or rather, long overdue and I couldn’t be happier about how it all turned out.  :-)

I’m ready to go back to Chicago!  :-) … :-(

I know I’m leaving a lot out because I’m still zombified from the trip, so I’ll be adding stuff to this blog….

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So, I edited Dirty Eden again and changed the first chapter up quite a bit. There were parts that were a little flat and some that simply needed to be altered to make them more clear (thanks Mr. Ron Wolfe for all your input!). I’ve already received several agent rejections, but I’m not going to let that get me down. As I said before, I knew in advance that rejections, even a lot of them, were inevitable. I know too that I’ll get many more before I get that magical acceptance letter. In the meantime, I’m doing what I need to do to make the manuscript better.

The one thing I can say is that so far I have not received any negative feedback on Dirty Eden in general.  I even had a request to see more of it and although that did not prove beneficial, it to me is encouraging.

So, the first chapter has been revised extensively. Well, technically the whole novel has been re-edited and revised, but you can download the pdf of the first chapter on this page.

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Update 10/24/26 – I received a response from an agent yesterday that truly lifted my spirits and brought my confidence back up. He said:  “…am pleased to say it looks sharp and interesting. Really, far better than several queries that I’ve had from published writers recently.” He asked to see the full manuscript.  I know better than to get my hopes up too high. He may like the query/synopsis and hate the story! But we’ll see. I just hope this one works out, not because of the obvious, but because before I even received his response I had good vibes. He seems cool and easy to work with.

Wish me luck!

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Ummm, yeah. This is Larry. He’s a lonely mannequin I met in a flea market yesterday (if you’re wondering, yes it’s true, there is jack shit to do where I live, so flea markets seem to be the highlight of my weekends). I won’t tell you the things he said to me. How embarrassing!

I’m curious.  Has anyone ever actually seen a mannequin with a facial expression like that? It’s a first for me. :-|

On a different note, I officially started submitting my first novel, Hallowed, to agents today. So, I now have two novels going through the hellish pre-agent process–double the stress, migraines and suicidal thoughts. It’s a bitch, but that’s OK. I truly expected it to be.  The good news is that I have, in fact, sparked interest in my quest. Not getting any hopes up yet though. I’m the type of person that opens the champagne long after everyone else at the party is already drunk.

Not much to say really. Me, Jerricah and Ares took  advantage of such a beautiful day and decided to walk across the Big Dam Bridge (yes, it’s really called that, because, well, it’s a big damn bridge) and it was refreshing. I needed a change if scenery (still do…in fact, if I have to live in this apartment much longer I think I’m going to ‘lose it’) because I’ve been stressed out and emotionally drained lately (but that’s really nothing new).

Just a few shots. The moth, Jerricah found it on the walkway wall. It was huge; about the size of the palm of my hand.

So anyway, yeah I thought I’d post something.

Goodnight.